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Melissa Joan Hart has worn many hats after becoming a certified sitcom star in the ’90s.
Being the oldest of eight children, the “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” actress admitted she felt the burden of accountability from a young age. The weight of responsibility was so heavy that Hart once refused to appear in Playboy magazine during the height of her fame as a young actress.
During an appearance on the “Sibling Revelry” podcast, Hart reflected on her decision to turn down the adult publication and said her decision positively impacted her family and future children.
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Melissa Joan Hart turned down Playboy after witnessing how another racy magazine cover negatively affected her family. (Bobby Bank)
Hart remembered how her brother and father were both “tortured” by people after she posed in Maxim magazine. “I didn’t want to do anything that would embarrass them or hurt them,” she told co-hosts Kate Hudson and her brother Oliver Hudson.
When Playboy came calling, the “Clarissa Explains it All” star put her foot down and said no.
“I was like, ‘I can’t do it,'” Hart recalled. “I can’t do it, and they offered me a lot of money, and I was like, ‘I can’t do it because I don’t want my brother to be hurt by that, like the last thing he needs. He’s already getting tortured by me and underwear, let alone completely.’
“I can’t do it, and they offered me a lot of money.”
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She continued, “And I would have been willing to do it because I was like, I’m not ashamed of my body. I’m proud of my body. I’m fine with that. But then I’m really glad I didn’t because now I have three boys and I don’t need those images out there for them.”
Hart posed for Maxim’s October 1999 cover. (Bob D’Amico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Hart had some intuition that her decision at the time would impact her future.
She noted she was “kind of happy I made that choice for my brother, which then also translates to my children.”
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Hart married musician Mark Wilkerson in 2003, and later welcomed three sons, Mason, Braydon and Tucker.
Hart found fame on Nickelodeon before starring in “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” (Getty Images)
“I always kind of knew that that would be a correlation, that someday, I would have children that would you know, what do I want them to see?,” she said. “And I kind of played that through my siblings’ eyes, so, I feel like I also was raised by these hippie parents who were growing their own pot in the garden.”
She added, “My mom once told me, she was like, ’You know, I did all the drugs. You don’t have to. They’re not worth it.’ And I was like, ‘OK, great, that sounds like … I like that, Like I take your word for that. I don’t need it.'”
Hart previously told Fox News Digital that she tries to limit self-imposed pressure as a working mother-of-three, but she’s only human and “mom guilt” is real.
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“That’s the thing about my job; I get to be a full-time parent when I’m not working,” she said. “But mom guilt, I think, is real; parent guilt is real across the board, I think, no matter what you’re doing.”
Hart and husband Mark Wilkerson share three sons together. They celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary this past summer. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
She added, “I do try to look at the blessing of the fact that I get to be home, driving them to school [or] be there for their birthdays. I’m making sure I’m home for Halloween this year. I didn’t get to be at homecoming, so there’s sacrifices. But then I get to work completely, too. Right now I am totally immersed in this movie I’m doing, and you know I’m getting full time to focus on that. And then I’ll go home and have full-time mommy time.
“It’s this weird balance that always, you know, you’re never sure if you’re getting it right, but I think that’s just parenthood.”